Fishing communities across the UK voted in large numbers to leave the European Union, only to find that red tape, hygiene requirements and additional costs left them struggling to export their catches to the Europe.

Just before dawn at Newlyn harbor, a local trawler returns after six days at sea and begins to unload several tonnes of sardines.

Before the UK left the EU, these fish went straight to refrigerated trucks, driven to the nearest ferry, and reached local markets in France within hours.

With 80 percent of all fish caught at Newlyn destined for export, the vast majority of which to France, there were concerns that all the red tape and additional costs could kill the industry.

The Cornish port of Newlyn in southwest England is one of the country’s main fishing ports. More than 600 ships land up to 40 different species of fresh fish every day, including hake, turbot, mackerel and sardines, as well as scallops, crayfish and crabs.

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After the first month of Brexit with all its extra paperwork, it looked like their worst nightmares could come true. Fish exports to the EU fell by a whopping 83% in January 2020. By the end of the year, however, the problem had eased. The latest government figures for 2020 show Britain exported more than $ 2 billion in fish. This was down 20 percent from the previous year and the lowest in five years.

Rob Parsons is Newlyn’s Harbor Master and hopes the worst may be over.

“It was a perfect storm. We were afraid of Brexit, that it would cause us problems with our exports. Then COVID-19 hit and we saw a sharp drop in prices. But now the prices have gone down somewhat. That doesn’t mean we’re out of the water, out of the storm, but I would say we’re booming. ” Parsons told CGTN Europe.

Fish sales have started to pick up after local authorities provided health inspectors to help with export certificates, though the process was slower and more expensive.

Stabbed in the back

One of the main selling points of Brexit was that it would limit access to foreign trawlers and increase quotas for UK industry. In the end, only minor changes took place, spread over five years.

Skipper Paul Corin voted for Brexit. Now he feels betrayed and had to sell his family trawler to keep the business going.

“Exports improved after Brexit thanks to the hard work of people, but the quota increase we were promised just did not materialize. It was a family boat, but we had to sell to a bigger company. I don’t have enough quota to operate the vessel and make a profit, ”Corin explained.

“I think we’ve all been stabbed in the back, we’ve been promised a lot of things and it hasn’t materialized and it’s not going to materialize,” he added.

Getting the British to eat more fish

Boosting domestic sales is seen as another post-Brexit priority.

The UK is an island nation surrounded by rich fishing waters, but apart from fish and chips we don’t eat a lot of fish and much of what we eat is imported.

A PR company was hired to rename some of the takes to make them more appealing, for example renaming spider crabs to King Cornish crabs.

Craig Tonkin is a fishmonger from Newlyn who also sells online. Before Brexit, around 80% of its sales were for export. COVID-19 lockdowns helped boost domestic sales, as many people avoided going to stores, preferring to shop online instead. But Tonkin believes the rebranding also helped half of its sales go straight to UK customers.

Inside his shop, located just across the harbor, he showed examples of what has changed.

“These were known as sardines and are now called Cornish sardines, and we sell a lot of them in the UK,” he said with pride.

Then he raised a sole of cardine, which most people in the country had never heard of, let alone eaten.

“We used to send 95% to Spain. Now they’ve been renamed Cornish Insoles and we also sell a lot in the UK,” Tonkin added.

But for Newlyn’s fishermen, exports remain their driving force. The worst of their problems may be over, but many are still struggling to survive.

Video Editing: Phil Caller

Cover image: / CGTN Europe